Scandel
by rayshel
Summary: This is my version of Scandel by kate brian i am not her , in Sawyer's point of view. It is a really good story. There will be some really good twist and surprises in this story.
1. Chapter 1

**New Start**

**All I suspected was a boring, normal vacation in paradise, without my sister, Jen. What I got was a normal start and an amazing, yet terrifying ending. When I heard that two newcomers were coming, I suspected that both of them were going to be shallow. Instead both were not.**

**Reed and Amberly are their names. Both went to the prestigious school Easton, in Connecticut. The same school my dad is now the headmaster of. My dad is one of the guys who wander through life going through many different jobs. I wonder what my life would be like is my dad did not get into Yale as a scholarship student and became good friends with Wallace Large. Probably less adventurous and not 5 stars vacations every Christmas at St. Barths.**

**Reed was the first person to make me forget, for a little while, that Jen was gone and never coming back. Amberly was the first person I ever kissed and an amazing girl, who was more complex then she seems. **

**As my limo, drops me and my brother, Graham, I see Reed talking to a curly haired boy and a beautiful, tall girl with dark black hair, as her best friend, Noelle, yelled into her phone. The second I step out of the limousine, Reed face brightens up, and the curly haired boy looks at me and Graham curiously.**

**Then Reed comes rushing over to greet me and says, "Its so great to see you. Come one let me introduce you to Ivy and Josh." Reed is oblivious to the glare the curly haired boy is giving me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**First Impressions**

As we walk towards the curly haired boy, the black haired girl and Noelle, Reed started crying. At first I did not know what to do, and then I realized I should just what I did when Reed was crying after Mrs. Ryan nearly killed her. I was completely at peace at the time knowing I was all worried for nothing during the six days she was gone. I gave hear a hug and said, "Its all right, everything is going to be all right."

Clearly that was the right thing to do because after I said this Reed started telling me about the latest misfortune in her life. How she was just about to go back to being a Billings girl and room with Noelle but know she can not. How Billings was like a second home to her and now it's gone and she does not know what she will do without it. Also, she told me she was not over the near death experience she had experience not more than a month before.

It took a long time for Reed to get all her feelings out. I did not realize that while Reed was talking, we had moved to a bench and were sitting very close together.

I guess Reed noticed that too because the next thing she said, "Enough about my stupid life. You just need to meet Ivy and Josh."

"Sure.", I said and we moved towards the curly haired boy and black haired girl, once more.

When we got to the two people Reed said, "Ivy, Josh, this is Sawyer, he a friend I made at St. Barths."

In response, Ivy said sweetly, "Hi, it must be interesting moving to a different school in the middle of the year."

At the same time, Josh said curtly, "I got to go. Later Ivy, Reed." Josh pushed me slightly as he was leaving. They feeling was nothing nice.

As Josh walked away I told Ivy, "Yeah it is but thankfully I know a few people here. Where are you from?"

"Boston.", Ivy answered. "You?"

"Livingston, New Jersey."

"Really that has the best Nicole Miller shop ever!"

"I know, my sister Jen went their all the time."

"Really? Is you sister here as well?"

"No", I replied sadly. That got me thinking of the time before St. Barths, when I was very forlorn and quieter then I am usually.

Then Ivy's phone rang. She answered, listened to whoever was speaking for a little bit, and then she exclaimed, "So what, Julian? Figure that problem out yourself. I'm in a middle of meeting someone. Call me back at some better time."

After she closed her phone away, Ivy exclaimed, "Gosh, my roommate here always wants me to solve her stupid computer problems. It gets so damn stressful after a while. Well I guess I should help her. Not that I wouldn't rather get to know you more but it would be hard to live with a roommate who hated you, so I have to go."

After Ivy, left Reed and I decided to go our separate ways. Me too the newspaper meeting, which surprisingly enough was on move in day at Easton. Reed to go find two of her other friends, Astrid and Trey.

Suddenly, I had no idea what I should do. I had no idea where computer lad 2 was. Luckily, that was the second Noelle decided to stop yelling at her dad and said bitterly, "I guess your right dad, I just can not believe you did this without telling me."

As she closed her phone Noelle looks at me and yelled, "What?"

Instead of doing what I usually did when faced with a cruel look from Noelle, which was stammer, "Sorry." and look away, I asked her, "Do you know where computer lab 2 is? I need to go to the newspaper meeting there."

"Oh.", Noelle said softly. "I'll show you the way." Was this the same girl I saw two seconds ago? In less than no time at all Noelle became from mean to unusually pleasant.

As we were walking, Noelle said, "You knkkow the Josh guy from before."

"Yeah.", I answered.

"Well he's Reed's ex-boyfriend, who, even though they are already broken up, he still has some feelings for her. So he might act a little jealous towards people Reed hangs out with that he does not like.", Noelle stated bluntly.

"Why would he straightforward dislike me when I only knew him for less than a minute?" I asked.

I realized the answer before Noelle said, "He thinks you are Reed's new boyfriend. Not just a new friend she made. Don't worry though, Josh hates me too. I guess I deserve his hatred but you surely do not."

My first real conversation with Noelle was not as scary as I thought it would be if I ever got the guts to talk to her. It is nice knowing that I probably just had a bad first impression when I met her, all those years ago. Not that I do not have a reason to be scared of her, Noelle is very powerful and can be very heartless to people sometimes.

"Thanks.", I said. "For telling me that." That was probably the most kind thing Noelle had ever said to me.

Noelle smiled at me and said, "Your most definitely welcome." Then Noelle sighed and said, " I so mad at my dad right now. He really is going to pay and so is yours. Billings is like my life and I am never going to be happy again unless they rebuilt it."

"What so wrong with the other dorms?", I asked. That was the question I was waiting to ask forever. Ever since Noelle and Ariana's freshman year, at Easton, Billings house was all the two of them could talk about. I did really get what was so special about it. Weren't Noelle and the other girls privileged enough.

"Well, that is something people like you are going to understand.", Noelle said as we made our way up to the computer lab. "Well here it is, two doors to the left, have fun, if you can. I never really like the people who work at The Chronicle, to peculiar in a very bad way, well except for the editor-in-chief, Constance, of course. You should talk to her, she is another good friend of Reed's."


	3. Chapter 3

As I walked away from the computer lab, at the end of the meeting, I see a dark blond girl, with narrow eyes, fighting with Amberly. The girl is saying, "I can't believe that you think you can come back from break and say 'I'm your best friend again and I'm sorry about how I like basically ignore you for like a month.' and think I'm going to automatically be your friend again. You don't need me anymore. Don't you? Now that you an all powerful Billings Girl."

"Lara", Amberly exclaims desperately, "I know that. I just know I'm sorry I was such a bitch last semester, and I know that no Billings Girl is ever should replace you and Kristen."

"Well you should have thought of that before me and Kristen decided we don't want to be with you ever again. You know what you promised us. You promised us we would get us a place in Billings in our junior year and look at Billings House know, it's all gone!"

"What?", Amberly sounded heartbroken, "That cant be true!"

"Well, see for yourself.", Lara answer. "I'm most defiantly not lying."

I passed to two of them. And walked to my new dorm, Ke

Seeing Amberly fighting with someone else brought back memories to our one and only fight we had back in St. Barth's.

It was a rainy day at the beach. I was lying morosely on a beach blanket trying to read Salem's Lot by Stephen King. For the first time every I couldn't read the book. I couldn't stop worrying about if Reed was ok or not. I started getting flashes of the night of when Jen left, after a fight we had the day before she died. I wondered sadly the Reed might be died too.

As I was looking at the pages, out of nowhere, Amberly can up to me. She said, "Hey", and sat next to me.

"Hi", I said in a monotonous voice. Still looking at the book.

"Are you going to talk to me or not!", Amberly yelled at me angrily. "I have been trying to talk to you for the last two days now. And all you've been doing is sitting in a corner and pretending to read a book. I know that Reed's disappearance is probably making you crazy, but I know Reed, and I bet she is going to appear here on the beach tomorrow with some ridiculous story!"

"She could be dead." I said, astonished by her rudeness. "Like my sister Jen. One day she disappeared and we hadn't seen her till a day later dead on our backyard. When someone is gone, you should never make such rude comments"

"Rude comments about Reed." Amberly laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if everyday she told Noelle something rude about me. Ever since Reed has gone back in Noelle's good side, Noelle has been treating me as a little kid as she goes back to worshiping Reed's every wishes. No wonder I hate her, she got everything I ever wanted at Easton. I wish Reed never figured out a way to make up with Noelle.

"For your information, I never seen or heard anyone say that Reed said something mean about you.", I retorted.

"Yeah, I guess that's true.", Amberly said calmly. "I guess I just angry with how things worked out. You see the party at New Years was supposed to end totally different from the way it did. You know with Upton runing up and saying, 'Does anyone know where Reed is? She never turned up to our date." and everyone worrying and deciding to spend the beginning of the New Year searching all over the place. I remember you going on a resuce boat even though I kept yelling 'Sawyer, can I talk to you'."

"I know all that." I said. "What are you trying to say? What was supposed to happen that night?

"I was supposed to kiss you. My first kiss on the beginning of what, supposedly is going to be the best year of my life.", Amberly said sadly

"I guess this year hasn't started out that great yet." I said. I hope I did what I did next out of friendship not love. No one else was outside. I bet no one even saw us. I just felt for that moment that only I could do what Amberly wanted to happen most. I leaned towards her and kissed her softly on the lips.

Then I said, "How about we go on those boats over their and look over at all those small islands and see if Reed is on one of them."

"Sure.", she replied. "I love you."

"Oh.", I said. I was suspired. "I love you too, as a friend I mean."

I will always remember how close we were to finding Reed. We actually searched the island where Reed was. We just entered on the other side and did not look hard enough.


	4. Chapter 4

A Message From Afar

As I was walking to Ketlar, the curly-haired guy from before, Josh, I think, came up to me and said, "Hey aren't you Amberly's brother."

I was taken aback. Did he know what happen between the two of us during winter break. "No.", I replied. "Why do you think that?"

"I don't now you two just look so much alike. Same kind of blond hair and small eyes.", he said in a cold voice that had a hint of pure disgust.

This was starting to feel weird. Why does this guy, who supposedly doesn't like me, even though he doesn't even know me, talking about my looks. Well at least he wasn't being mean to me yet. "That true. I never noticed that before. Are you going to Ketlar too."

"Yeah.", Josh replied. "So why did you decide to go to Easton?"

"Well my dad got a job here."

"Really that's cool. What does he teach?"

"Oh, he is going to be the new headmaster."

"Now isn't that something. The poor headmaster's son.", Josh laugh. Then he said something I bet he really wanted to say. "How do you know Reed so well?", he said not in a curious manner, but in a manner of tell me or I will kill you.

I could have simply said, "We met each other at St. Barths.", but I felt like saying what I had been thinking about lately. I felt that even though I was talking to someone who hated me, I should be truthful for the first time in my life. "We met a St. Barths, during the break, and we sort of hit it off after I saved her from drowning. I later learned that what happen wasn't the worst thing that happen in her life. You know a friend of hers and an old boyfriend died because of her. It makes the death of my sister seem not so horrible." I felt like crying, but I was not going to look like a loser.

Josh stared. As if he did not know what to say. "You're sister died? Gosh."

Before I could respond, Graham's best friend Gage from forever came up to Josh and I. "Sawyer, my man. You need to come to my room at 8 tonight. Graham got another message from the lady from afar."

I had a pretty good idea about what Gage was talking about. Ever since they met, all those years ago, Graham and Gage told everything to each other. So I wasn't surprised when Graham told Gage what mysterious messages he had been getting since Jen died and Jane got sick. Jane was Jen's best friend before… well that was a very, very long time ago. Not something I need to think about right now.

I nodded, saying, "I going to meet my roommate. See you two later.", as I walked towards Ketlar. I'm kind of nervous. I never roomed with anyone before. Will we get along? I doubt it. I never was really good at getting people to like me. Given that I am very aloof. Not something I like being just someone I am. Jen, Reed and Amberly are probably the only people I know who never put it against me. God, I miss Jen so much. I am so mad at myself. Why did we have to have such a horrible fight the night of her death. Her suicide!

I walked into Ketlar. It was a pretty, gorgeous, old building. On the outside it looked like a small palace. With its huge windows and bricks stack one over the other. I knew the minute I saw it that I loved it. I loved the dark red carpet on the hallways and stairs. The beautiful chandelier over the common room. The comfortable looking couches and chairs. The huge, new, flat screen TV.

I hope my room is this nice. I walked up the stairs. Passed a bunch of strangers hanging on the couches. My roommate was probably one of them. Never the less it would nice to get comfortable in my new room before I had to share it.

Room 222 was the number on the card my dad gave me earlier that day. I passed room 221, then 223. Where is my room? "Are you lost?", a voice said behind me. "I never seen you before.", it was a kind voice, I could tell.

"Yeah.", I said facing the really short brown-haired boy behind me. Wow he looked like he was twelve. "Do you know where Room 222 is?"

"Of course. That's my room too. Coolio were going to be roommates. I'm Paul by the way. Paul Romero"

"Really, you don't look Spanish. I'm Sawyer Hathaway. This is going to be my first semester here at Easton. Can you show me where our room is?"

"You know. I know many non-Spanish people with last names like Romero. Come on follow me. I actually just moved to this dorm. They got some new rooms here. Courtesy of the new headmaster. I was in another dorm, Drakes so far this year. I'm a junior. How about you?", he said as he lead me to our room.

Gosh Paul seems very chatty and very unlike how I'm used to privileged, people act. I'm one of them myself. I just never really fitted in with wealthy people. I can be too challenging to like sometimes because I act upset a lot, according to Jen.

"Me too. What is Easton like, anyway. My friend Reed said it is like heaven on earth sometimes."

"Reed Brennan? You know her. Wow, I have always wanted to meet her. She is like a celebrity at Easton because of all that has happen to Easton since she got here."

"I know. She wishes things were different.", I annonced shortly. We entered our room. It was pretty nice. Not as beautiful as I expected. We unluckily did not get one of those huge rooms with big windows. We got one of those one in million, single turned double type of room, with a buck bed. It was beautiful, just not what I imagined. Figures! I never got lucky at anything.

"I call bottom buck.", Paul cried. Great I'm going to have to spend the next five months having to climb up every day just to go to sleep.

I nodded. I didn't want to cause any controversy towards someone I just met. "And you have to make my bed.", I said.

"Boy you must be lazy.", Paul cried.

"No.", I answered. "Just tired. Its eight right?"

"Yeah, its eight oh ten."

"Great! I'm late. See you later.", I cried. Then I rushed to Gage's and Graham's room. Lucky Graham gets to room with his best friend.

Gage's and Graham's room was the totally opposite of my room, with Paul. It was as big as a giant. I bet it was the only room with its own sofa and two king size beds. The two of them were looking at Graham's laptop, that was on Graham's vast desk.

"Hey.", I uttered. "What's up?"

"You're late!", they remarked in unison. "Look."

They should me the message.

"Bonjour. I have heard you have embarked and traveled to the formidable Easton Academy. I wish you luck. As you're beloved sister, I hope you are thinking about me and about what you done to make me so mad. Why can't you help me. I'm waiting for the right moment to strike. And when I do, you will wish you never been born.

Yours truly,

Jen

PS. Never say I don't love you."

* * *

Author's Note

I hope everyone who is reading my fan fiction is enjoying it. I am so happy to finally start doing the action and really intense chapters. I just want to say the thing about rooming in a buck bed is what happened to my sister. She arvived at college, her freshman year to find that she unluckily has to room in a small room. Isn't that sad. Spending so much money for a college with one of the number one dorms in the world and finding out you are not getting one of them. Anyway, gosh this is so fun. I hope to get more reviews. I'm dying to actually hear what people think of my story. If you think my story if boring or bad please tell me. (I hope its not).

Chag Sameach!!!!! Happy Hanukah!!!!!

RS


	5. Chapter 5

*Please Review*

Ninja

Well, that was pretty interesting. "Bye." I said to Graham and Gage, who still looked shocked. I left the room and ran past some guys, who were obviously friends, said, "Excuse me." and when to my room.

As I got closer to my new room I could hear Paul talking to someone. "Sure I will do it. It isn't that hard."

"Thanks." said another guy, who had a really familiar voice. Who did I know that guy from? "I really appreciate it and thanks for helping me while Ivy was hurt."

"Your welcome. It has been great getting to know you over break."

"You too. Why do you think it is going to be easy though?"

"Well you can say I have the upper hand."

I had two choice. I could either be a wimp and go back to Graham's room or I could see who Paul was talking to. I chose the later and went into Room 222. "Hi y'll.", I said calmly using my faux Southern Drawl. I was not very surprise to see that it was Josh who Paul was talking to.

I went to my bed, that Paul kindly made. Thank goodness. It was interesting to see to guy sitting on the same top bunk. Brought back memories of summer camp. I said, "Well, what's up.", as I pick up a book I left earlier on my bed. The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis, my favorite classic.

"Oh, we were just talking.", they in unison.

I nodded and began to read.

***

As I was accustom to, that Sunday morning bright and earlier, before most people got up, I sat in my bed reading. It seems to me that the only time I am truly happy is when I am reading. Most privilege people I know, think it is a waste of time to read everyday.

At around 7o'clock, about an hour after I woke up. I got a text from Graham.

? 2 eat

I text back.

Y

Then Graham texted.

My room

Then I got dressed. Quiet as a mouse, I went out of the room and walked to Graham's room. Gage and Graham were their waiting. Boy, they looked tired. "Your sure you two don't want to go back to sleep?" I asked.

"No.", they said. Gosh, they can be so stubborn sometimes. I nodded and asked. "We should just ignore the message we got last night."

"Yeah.", they said sullenly. It was so unlike the two of them to be so quiet. We walked quietly towards the dinning hall. Strangely enough people were in the dinning hall. Sixteen girls to be exact. They all looked poise and sophisticated, but the at the same time sad and frustrated.

"You got to listen to us!", one girl said in a British voice.

"This is so unfair, Vienna!", I heard a girl with a huge chest say to a girl next to her, who had pretty much the same looks.

"IMHO.", one girl said. "This is against Billings long history."

"Quiet!", Noelle said to the other girls. "Let me figure this out."

"I guess this is their way to get back Billings. LOL." Gage whispered to us. "I doubt it will work."

"We should go back to Ketlers.", I whispered back. "It is impolite to easedrop and I doubt Reed would like to hear that we knew what happen this morning and listen to their private business."

"Go back by yourself.", Graham and Gage told me.

"K.", I said and walked back to the dorm.

Gosh, Gage and Graham can be so rude sometimes. As I walked around Easton's grounds. I though about everything that had happen last year. Since it was so quiet, it was not difficult to remember the night of my fight with Jen before she died. She told me, that night in September, that she was tired of figuring out all my social problems. That she never wanted to see a loser like me again and that she was disappointed in me. And then I told her that she should just leave me alone if she didn't care about me anymore.

That was a sad night. I was so heartbroken when I heard Jen was gone. Now months later they still didn't know where Jen's body is. All we have is the sociside note that Jen left.

Upton left me and now I'm leaving you all.

don't go looking for my body. I have asked a

friend to put in in a lake far, far away from home.

Love, Jen

That was the saddest night of my life and I bet that yesterday, when the Billing Girls found their home gone, they had the saddest day of their lives. Jen is right. Like a ninja I hide away from my problems.

* * *

AN

I wouldn't be surprised if the real Scandal by Kate Brian, is very different from my story. Still I am please to say that the next chapter is going to be very scandalous. Hope you all are enjoying my story. I am so glad to get a break from 9th grade for the next two weeks. It a huge relieve to get away from school work!!! I just saw Avatar yesterday and wow it was amazing. Besides being too long it had a very unique and interesting story. It they decided to edit some scenes out it would have definitely been a perfect movie.

Thanks for reading!

Rashel


	6. Chapter 6

Invisible But Powerful

Later that day, at around 3 in the afternoon, Graham came up to me, and said, "Have you seen Gage anywhere lately?"

"No. last time I saw him was during lunch.", I replied.

"Oh.", Graham nodded. "Reading as usual I see."

"Yeah.", I said. "All everyone else is doing is waiting to hear about what is going to happen to the Billing Girls."

Graham nodded and went outside to the hallway to hang out with some of the boys in the dorm. Figures that Graham is already accepted as a Ketler boy by everyone. Graham has always been charismatic to everyone but me and Jen. I wish the same could be said about Paul. Everyone, except this really kind guy named Trey and Josh, think Paul should got back to Drakes or Dreck as they call it.

I am not very sure what the guys think of me. They probably just see me as a bearable dormate and someone easy to ignore.

Every since Jen died we have been very aloof from each other. Not unlike before, just that we didn't really notice our differences before there was no Jen to get us to talk to each other. Before I started to be more social at St. Barths, the two of us had a lot of verbal fights, when we were alone together.

Instead of reading maybe I should try to make some friends. That Trey guy seemed nice enough. I got out of my room and walked towards Trey, who was talking to a guy, who even though he looked nothing like Upton, he was probably one of the guys every girl wanted to date.

"Hunter, New Jersey doesn't sound to bad. I had to spend my break in Ohio, where all that seemed to happen was getting snow and more snow."

Smiling I said them. "I agree New Jersey is probably my favorite state. I lived their all my life and am glad to."

"Cool.", the guy named Hunter said. He sure did look like a hunter. "What did you do during break, um, what's your name again?"

"St. Barths. My name Sawyer and don't worry about not knowing my name. I'm the new kid after all, along with my brother Graham."

"Really.", Trey said. "Your our new headmaster's other son. What does it feel like to be the headmaster's son?"

"Not as good as it seems to you. I can't really make him want to rebuild Billings our something like that.

"I'm said to hear that. My girlfriend, Astrid. would be so glad if you could do something like that."

"Yeah, my friend from Billings probably wishes that was true too.", I replied and the three of us laughed.

"Would the two of you like to show me around Easton?", I asked tentatively. I just met them and wasn't sure it they liked to get to know me our not. I was used to people ignoring me after all.

"Sure.", Trey said.

"Sorry, I have to go to this study date with this girl I met yesterday named, Lilly. She is from Pemberly, but boy she is hot."

Our laughter spread around this hall and I could help but see Graham's shock look. I bet he thought I would stay in my room all day.

Then Trey started to show me around Easton. Trey was surprising easy to talk to. It was really nice to get to know him during our walk. As we went towards this burned down building, that Trey told me was called Gwendolyn Hall, we saw two people making out. "Eew.", I said to Trey, "Couldn't the two of them find a better place to do that."

Trey just stared at them. Weird I first thought and then I looked closer. I couldn't believe who it was. Gage and the girl from yesterday. What was her name Lilly? No. Ivy.


	7. Chapter 7

***Please Review***

**Love Or Lust**

**Quietly Trey and I left the two lovebirds to go back to Ketlers. "Sick, totally sick." Trey whispered to himself as he and I started to sprint. "What are they thinking?"**

"**Noelle said Ivy's Josh's girlfriend." I said to Trey. "Is that true?"**

"**Yeah. I thought Ivy loved Josh, but maybe she just felt lust towards him.", Trey replied. "We better not tell anyone what we saw. If anyone else knew about this there will be too much drama. It's bad enough that Billings is gone!"**

"**Trey, what are you talking about." said a voice behind us. **

**Trey and I turned around reprehensibly. Surprise, surprise it was Amberly. Nowadays she seemed to turn up everywhere. From at the beach in St. Barths to my house at St. Barths, where she supposedly was looking for Gage to talk to him. **

"**None of your business, freshie! Aren't you supposed to be with the old Billing girls." Trey told Amberly.**

"**No, Noelle said they don't need me anymore." Amberly responded. I could see that Amberly was sad about that. Respect from Noelle was, after all, all Amberly wanted and she seem to not be getting it now that they were back at Easton.**

**When she saw Trey was not going to tell her nothing, Amberly turned to me. "Sawyer, what happened that got you to run so fast?"**

"**Like Trey was saying, it isn't your business. Last time I check you weren't put on earth to know everything." I said.**

"**Well, when you two stop acting like five year olds, I'll be here, ready to know." Amberly responded.**

"**Bye.", we said and started running to Ketlers again. "Your might want to go back to you're new dorm." Trey said. "It's almost time for the After-Break rule talk."**

*******

**I woke up early the next morning for the first day back at school. I was kind of nerves. It had been almost a month since I had to worry about keeping up with school work. I really hope I was not behind the tedious curriculum that was at Easton. **

**Last night, Trey and I kept quiet and tried to act as if everything was normal. As if we didn't see Ivy cheat on her boyfriend. Trey was worried that if everyone found out there would be a huge scandal. I was worried that if Reed found out she might be wanting to get back together with Josh. Even though I didn't really know him that well, I couldn't stop feeling some hatred towards that guy. **

**For some reason since the moment I met Reed, I felt some connection with her. I fell quickly in love with her. She still reminds me so much about Jen. **

**I was mad at myself last Christmas Eve for being rude to her about trying to talk to me while I was trying to read. I can be kind of mean when someone tries to talk to me during my Happy Hour. I was so glad that she forgave me and decided to where the necklace I gave her.**

**I was planning to tell Reed about my feelings this Saturday, but at time she seemed to sad about Billing house being destroyed. I truly understood and I decided to give her time. Maybe later today I should try to talk to her about my feelings of lust. Yeah I should. The sad fact is that it is hard for me to admit that I am in love with someone, especially if it is a girl as special as Reed. **

**As I got ready for breakfast, I noticed something strange on Paul's desk. I know it is rude to look through other peoples stuff, but the piece of paper kind of spoke to me like it wanted me to read what it had to say. **

**Regrese la caja si no, Romero.**

**I knew Spanish well enough to know that **_**"caja" **_**meant box, but the rest was gibberish to me. Maybe I ask Paul later what this message was. For right now I just put it in my pocket.**

**I went out of my room and went to meet Trey and Hunter, so we could go to breakfast together. They said that a friend of theirs, Weston Bright, would also be their. "West", they said last night during dinner. "Had returned late last night, right in time for school."**

**Last night the old Billing Girls, I heard, had decided to skip dinner to talk about their plans to get back Billings.**

**As I walk towards Trey, Hunter and a guy who I bet was West, I saw that Josh was staring at me in a corner talking to Paul. Well that answers where Paul disappeared to, but not what this message in Spanish was.**

"**Hey." West said. "Your Sawyer right?"**

"**Yeah." I said. **

"**Great to meet you!", West said as he shook my hand. "Are you any good at lacrosse? I'm the captain of Easton's lacrosse team. It doesn't start till the end of March, but you can come to some inside practice sessions in the gym, if you want."**

"**I'm not really athletic." I told him. "I prefer to read and write, actually. I'm thinking about joining the newspaper."**

"**That's find.", West said. He didn't look as upset as other captains looked when I told them I wasn't interested.**

"**Glad to hear you say that." I said. Then Trey and Hunter joined the conversation and we went on our way to the dinning hall. Laughing and talking all the way.**

* * *

**AN **

**Just want to let you know that "Regrese la caja si no, Romero." is Latin American Spanish for "Return the box or else. Thanks for reading and have a nice break. Go snow!!!!**

**Later,**

**Rayshel**


	8. Chapter 8

**Just Three Words**

**I was not very surprise that classes at Easton were really hard. The first thing my pre-calculus class did was a review test on the math that we supposedly were good at last semester. We got a new book in English, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and had to read the first 3 chapters tonight and answer several questions about them. The first thing my history teacher, Mr. Barber, did was make us play a game about world history and ask us to answer random questions about history. In science I had to listen to a lecture and take notes about Physics, gosh I hate science.**

**After classes, I went to the common room of Ketler to play Guitar Hero with Trey, West and Hunter. I was becoming really good friends with the three of them. The only annoying thing about Hunter was that he liked to talk about himself a lot.**

**Around 6 o'clock the four of us went to dinner. When I got to the dining hall Hunter was talking about his trip to Venice during break. Wow this guy must have gone everywhere? "I love how old the building there are and how historical they are, but all the whole city seemed like to a museum to me. I felt to bored over there for the two days I was their." Hunter went on and on. Gosh this boy can be so boring sometimes**

**I was relieved from boredom when Reed came up to me. "Hey.", she said, with her sky blue eyes shining so glittery. "How's you're first day going?"**

"**It was pretty good.", I told her. "How are things working out for Billings."**

"**Not so good.", Reed said sadly. "Nothing we say works with you're day."**

"**That's true. He may not look like he is, but Dad is powerful."**

"**So true.", Reed said and we laughed. Talking to Reed was so easy. She never expected me to chat about nothing every too seconds.**

**As we got our food I asked Reed, "Do you want to work together in the library tonight?**

"**Sure." Reed said and then smiled. "It would be great to be able to actually get my work done for tonight. it's a date."**

"**Great.", I said. **

*******

**After getting all my work from my dorm, I went to the library and found Reed sitting in a quite corner ready to work. Good. After we get our work done I will tell her.**

**For the next two hours we worked silently on our work. As we worked I though about the note I found on Paul's desk earlier this morning maybe I should check out what it means before I tell Paul about me noticing it. "I need to look something up for a second.", I told read and she nodded.**

**I log on the computer and looked up Spanish translation and got. **

**We couldn't find your phrase.**

**Weird I thought. Then I typed.**

**Regraser**

**And I got.**

**To Return**

**So it was probably just a reminder to return a box or something. Nothing criminal or strange. Paul probably needed to return a box that an old friend of his old dorm gave him.**

"**Want to walk me to Pemberly?", Reed asked behind me. "I'm done for tonight."**

"**Sure!", I said. "So am I."**

**Reed smiled and we were on the path towards Pemberly when Reed stopped, at Gwendolyn Hall ironically, and looked me in the eye. "You want to tell me something don't you?"**

"**Yeah.", I answered. "I'm not really sure where to start. But before I tell you the secret about something Trey and I saw yesterday. There is something that I been meaning to tell you for a really long time."**

"**Well shoot.", Read said in a monotonous tone.**

"**I love you.", I said. Just three words, but I know they would change the friendship that me and Reed made since I saved her from drowning.**

"**Me too.", Read said. That surprised me. I thought she did not have the same feelings I had. Then Reed continued and told me something very personal that I bet she would never tell anyone else. **

"**A few months ago. In November, right after me and Josh broke up, I had this interview with this really nice kid name Marc. We are really good friends now. I realized then that maybe I could love someone again. I remember thinking that maybe he won't be Josh, but he would be someone just as special. And I see you as someone I can trust."**

"**Me too.", I responded. "That's probably why I am going to tell you what Trey and I saw yesterday. I know I can trust you enough that you won't tell anyone."**

"**Thanks.", Reed said. Then I told her about what Trey and I saw Ivy and Gage doing.**

"**That not so surprising. I always though that Ivy and Gage go well together. For Ivy's sake, I will not tell anyone. Besides Billings being gone is enough drama for Easton."**

"**So true.", I said. Then the two of us walked to Pemberly. As we walked away together, I thought I heard someone sprint. It was probably just my imagination. "I am not used to things being so perfect." I told myself.**

**After saying bye, I walked towards Ketler. Ketler felt more like a home then it had when I first entered. I made four friends in Ketler easily so I fell pretty good about myself. I went to Gage and Graham's room to talk to them because I felt as if I hadn't talked to them at all today. I felt afraid earlier that I might blurt out that I saw Gage make out with Ivy. Not anymore. I trusted that I could act normal towards him and not make a fuss.**

**I can't believe that yesterday that I was afraid of Reed knowing. She obviously didn't want to get back together anytime soon. For now that was okay. I finally got the courage to have my first relationship. I feel so happy.**

*******

"**Hey.", I said as I walked into their huge room. Graham wasn't their. Instead I found Gage and Trey talking.**

"**Look at who decided to come!", Gage said. "I was about to ask someone to go get you."**

"**Really?", I said bemusedly. "Why?"**

"**Hmm. I have a feeling you already know the answer to that question. Lock the door.", Gage told me.**

**I did. Gage took this picture beside his bed, off the wall and pressed a red button that was behind it. "This makes this room soundproof.", Gage said matter-of-factly.**

**Trey and I nodded.**

"**I saw you two yesterday spying on me and Ivy. I'm am going to say this once. Don't tell anyone! If you do both of you will wish you never been born."**

"**Why can't Ivy just tell Josh about what is going on between the two of you?", Trey asked.**

"**Because now is not the right time. When it is you can tell anyone, but know you can't and that's final!", Gage said angrily. **

"**Ok", Trey and I said as we walked out of the room. When we got out I told Trey, "I hope he and Ivy figure out a reason about why their starting a scandal. It won't be long before everyone finds out."**

"**True. Still its better to keep it a secret for now. I can't think of what he would do if we told, but I bet it is something horrible.", Trey told me.**

"**True, true.", I answered.**

**Know I am wishing I never told Reed. I guess I'll just have to trust her, like she trusts me.**


	9. Chapter 9

Divine

After the confrontation with Gage I went to my room to find Paul trashing our room, looking for something. "What are you looking for?", I wondered.

"Oh, this note a friend of mine gave me. It's really important. Have you seen it?", Paul asked back.

I took out the note that I kept in my pocket all day. "Is this what you're looking for?

"Yeah, thanks. Where was it?" Paul asked as he grab the note from me.

"I found it on the floor this morning."

"What! Don't ever touch my property without my permission again!", Paul screamed

"Whoa.", I exclaimed. "Its just a piece of paper."

"A very important one. Its private and divine."

"How can a note about returning a box be godly?"

"This box is very important.", Paul said gloomily as he walked out the room. "Later."

***

The next few weeks passed very quickly. I quickly got into the routine of getting school work done and hanging out with Trey and the others and meeting all of Reed's friends. I really loved talking to her friend Constance, who was as obsess as I with journalism.

People quickly found out that Reed and I are together. Most didn't care but some did. I couldn't help but feel Amberly's cool demeanor when she saw me. She probably felt like I had broken her heart. didn't she realized that I only liked her as a friend? Why couldn't she be happy for me?

No matter what I did I knew that Josh would hate me. With my stupid people reading skill I could see that he was jealous. His relationship with Ivy, I could tell, was going to end soon. Maybe that is when Ivy and Gage are going to tell everyone that they are together "_Again_!", Trey would exclaim.

On my third Wednesday at Easton, I had a very meaningful conversation with Ivy. It was during lunch. After quickly eating with Trey, Hunter and West, I decided to go to the library to get a little extra studying.

"Hey", Ivy called as I was logging on to my computer.

"Hi.", I called back.

"Gage told me you saw, you-know-what.", Ivy said abruptly. I could tell that she wanted to talk to be about that incident for a while.

"Yeah, I did. Don't worry about it though. There is nobody hear that I would want to tell, anyway."

"Yeah right.", Ivy exclaimed. "Amberly just told me that she saw you tell Reed the first Monday back from break."

I stared at her. What am I going to do?

Ivy misinterpreted my stare and continued, in a softer tone. "I should have known. That lying scoundrel. Don't worry, I didn't believe her for a second. It was just initial shock. She probably nosed into my business like she always does."

"Who?", I asked bemused.

"Oh, I always forget her name. Sorry.", Ivy told me.

I could laugh at that. What a narrow escape. Who knew that keeping quiet could help. "Its all right. I find out who soon enough. Just try to get whoever this person is, to keep quiet."

"Yeah, I should.", Ivy said as she rolled her eyes. Ivy turned to walk out of the room, then stopped and said. "Do you ever feel that it is hard to change who you are?"

"Yeah all the time. I used to care before I realized that who I am is what I want to be. My sister, Jen taught that to me."

"Last semester, I said a lot of nasty things to Reed. That was before I actually got to know her. Now I can't stop wishing that I never tried to gang up on her because she was part of the house I hated.", Ivy told me.

I nodded and said. "Good luck with the break up."

"Thanks.", Ivy said smiling. "Sorry about before."


	10. Chapter 10

Dangerous

Later that cold Wednesday night I had my first real conversation with Graham since the day before the term started. I was walking back to Ketler, after hanging out and having my first kiss with Reed, when Graham called after me. "Sawyer, hey."

I turned around and replied, "Hey. What's up?"

"We got another message from the Jen Pretender.", That was his personal nickname to the faux Jen. "This time it was in poem form, based on one of the most classical poems ever made." Graham beckoned me to go to Ketler. We walked in silence till we got to the front door of the dorm. "Did you know that while you were studying, Ivy broke up with that Josh guy?"

"Really.", I faked a surprised look. "That's so surprising."

"I know.", Graham replied and we walked in silence again. Even though we are brothers, it feels as if Graham and I have no idea ever what to say to each other when were alone.

It seem strange that everyone seemed to be out of Ketler. "Where is everyone?", I asked Graham.

"Probably at the library or something. It is only like 7:30 right now.", Graham replied.

"True.", I responded.

We then entered Graham's room. I got a chair to sit on while Graham logged onto his computer. After I sit down, Graham clicked onto a email of that came without an email address. It was strange how this person was smart enough to leave untraceable emails. I looked at the poem.

Roses are dead.

Violets are blue.

Graham you will be dead soon too.

"Your right it is a classic.", I joked. Then I saw that Graham was shaking a little. "Don't worry this stranger is just trying to mess with your mind."

"You're wrong. This school is dangerous. Last semester at this school a girl died and last year in the fall a boy died too. Like it said before this school is dangerous."

"It's not.", I argued. "The school just had a psycho during those times. Everyone knows about what Ariana and her sister did here. They got people to freak out."

"Remember during break. Someone tried to kill your girlfriend. Maybe someone decided to follow that path again."

"Theses kinds of messages started before we got to Easton.", I said, trying to reason with him.

"This school is dangerous." Graham whispered again.

***

As I walked into my own dorm room later that night, I saw Paul playing on his computer on his small, wooden desk in the corner of our small room. It's around 9, after spending ages trying to convince Graham that no one was after him.

Without saying a word to Paul, I sat on my bed, took out my IPhone and looked through my old pictures of Jen, from last September. I noted her small height, her beautiful wavy blond hair and her sparkling blue eyes, so much like Reed's.

I looked at Paul. He's probably about the same size as Jen was then, a little taller. "Maybe Jen is not died." I wondered to myself. "Maybe she decided to disguise herself as someone else." That sounds ridiculous though. We may have never saw her body, but we did get her suicide note and she was acting suicidal before she died. I am just being paranoid. Graham's paranoia was coming slowly to me.

Still it was strange that note about a box that Paul had. I never really got a chance to know what it was about. I never got the courage to ask Paul what was so important about the box. The note. "What was that note in Spanish, that was so important to you?" I asked quietly.

"Its none of your business." Paul responded contemptuously.

I need to try harder to find out what I want to know. "I guess you don't know much about me." I started saying.

"And I don't want to know nothing." Paul told me.

I nodded. "And I want to know what was in the box. Tell me and I'll leave you alone."

"Kay. The thing is, it is kind of hard to explain. A really long, boring story."

"Well I have all night and nothing better to do. Tell me the story." I said eagerly.

"Its really personal." Paul said quietly. Then something, I have no idea what, changed his mind. "I'm actually really interested in knowing personal stuff about you. Tell me something I don't know already and then I tell you my secret. Don't tell anyone."

Paul was surprisingly easy to convince to tell me something that was obviously very dear to him. Everyone already knew somehow that Graham and I had a sister who was dead. What else could I tell him? Oh! "You now why Reed and I are such good friends?" Before Paul could respond I continued. "Because I saved her from drowning."

"Not good enough." Paul said.

"Um, I secretly blame myself for my sister's death." If the first secret was not good enough, I would be very surprised if this one did.

"Really?" Paul said bemusedly. "I already know the first one. Everyone does. But that thing about you sister. Gosh."

I smiled. Thank goodness that small secret was good enough for Paul.

Then Paul told me his story.


	11. Chapter 11

I'll Be In Your Heart

I have always been the person that everyone seemed to ignore. I was the kind of person who usually is left out of everything. Till this winter break when I got to be a part of everything. My feelings for Reed are something I used to never think that I would ever get.

When I look back to my old life in New Jersey, I feel like I had been wasting my life. I used to be never a part of anything. I pretty much spend all my time either alone or hanging out with Jen. Jen did not care that I did that. She once told me that she would hate it if I hang out with another girl more than her.

Paul was living a life that I could never live. I may be a chameleon, but at least I never have to do the scary things that Paul was born to do.

Last night, after I listened to Paul's story, I started worrying about Reed and mine relationship. I really do not want to risk losing our relationship. It feels that it might because I am sure that Reed sometimes is still thinking about that relationship that she used to have with Josh. I wish that is not true, but I now it is.

"When in doubt, talk.", was what I thought I heard when I woke up the next morning. It was raining outside. Sure sign for a bad day. I look towards Paul's bed. It felt like a good time to go and to talk to him. He was gone.

Someone bang on my door. "Come in." I yelled.

It turned out to be Reed. I smiled. "A little too early to be coming in. aye?"

"I guess." Reed stayed silently by the door staring at me. "Want to go to breakfast together." This was kind of weird. Usually we just met at the dinning hall. Well this did bring memories back to our first breakfast together.

"Of course!"

Talking Reed's hand, Reed and I walked to breakfast together. "It must be great for you not to have to deal with drama anymore." I said.

"It is. Still Easton was more existing when it is dealing with a murder scandal."

"Hopefully if one happens here again it will have to do with some entirely not dealing with you."

"I said Easton was more existing. Not that I like Easton to be exiting."

I nodded and we both got out our umbrellas because we reached the front door then.

"Its kind of strange that no one is in your dorm right now." Reed remarked.

"Yeah. Strange."

"How well did you now Ariana?" Reed said abruptly.

"Pretty well, we used to hangout a lot at the beach when we were younger. Why are you thinking about her?"

"I don't know. Something just isn't feeling right. I feel like something bad is going to happen soon."

"Calm before the storm."

"Yeah. Did you hear the administration is planning to renovate Pemberly?" Reed asked changing the subject.

"Cool. When?"

"During spring break."

"How are applying for colleges going?"

"Pretty well. Since I did not have time last semester-" I cut her off. Gage was coming towards us with a really, morose look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I hollered.

I could swear that tears were dripping on Gage's face. Something bad was definitely going on.

"Gra- Gra- Gra-"

"What?" I said sharply. "Tell us."

Closing his eyes, Gage said very slowly. "Graham died. We got in a sort of fight last night, so he decided to go out. When I woke up this morning to my phone ringing. Your dad told me they found him died by the ruins of Gwendolyn Hall."

I had no idea what a normal person would do in this situation. Maybe because the same thing already happen to my sister. Maybe because I was never really close to Graham. But I felt nothing when I hear the second most horrible news in my entire life, so far. No remorse, no happiness, nothing.

I looked towards Reed and said, in a hoarse voice, "At least this one has nothing to do with you."

Reed stared at me. "I'm so sorry." she whispered.

"What's going on around here?" A voice cried out behind us. "OOO, this is the first time I ever saw a selfish, player cry. What happen? Someone find out your secret?"

I was not very surprised when, as she was getting closer to us, to find out it was Amberly. Amberly, it seems, always knew where to find me, once she first noticed me, of course.

"Lets go." Reed said softly, pulling on my arm. I nodded and we started running to the dining hall.

Once we got inside, Reed said softly. "Don't worry. Graham is probably just hurt. Yes Gage was probably just overreacting."

"He wasn't." Amberly said loudly behind us. "I saw his body. He is definitely dead. I now for sure it is Reed's fault. Since she came to Easton people had been dieing like flies."

"Its not." I told Reed. "You don't even really know Graham."

"Haha." Amberly faked laughed. "She didn't even know Thomas, and he died."

"I did." Reed said. "I think your talking about yourself."

"I doesn't even matter." I whispered. "We need to figure out why Graham died. He was really nervous last night. He was thinking that Easton was dangerous. Maybe he knew too much about something."

"I don't care!" Amberly yelled. "When are you finally going to realize that we belong together!" turning towards Reed, Amberly continued, "I'm so tired of you."

"Same to you." Reed said bluntly.

Amberly, looking like she was about to cry, nodded and left the room.

"Reed, don't worry. You never hangout with Graham ever. Did you?"

"No" Reed said as her head turned towards the left.

That would have been reassuring, it would be great if Reed didn't have to be in the Hathaway scandal, but looking to the left was a sure sign of lying. Paul told me last night. I'm sure that Paul is right. It is his job after all, to find out if people are lying or not.


	12. Chapter 12

Morbid

The widow overhead was closed. There was nothing much to see, be it be open, since it was a cloudy day. It was the day of Graham's funeral. I spent the week holed up in my room thinking. I thought about my life. I thought about Jen's, Graham's, Paul's, Reeds and so on. I felt really unsocial. I didn't want to deal with life. Too many set backs. Too many loss chances. Too many things not going my way.

My relationship with Reed wasn't as good as it once been. I still felt as if I loved her, but I never had any idea how to show it. Valentine's Day was coming soon (three days in fact) and I had no idea what I should do. I could think of anything special. Anything different then what some other guy would do.

For the first time in my life I felt truly sad and angry at myself. I wasn't able to say Jen from killing herself and I decided to ignore Graham when he was worried. I acted as a bad brother. Everyday, the voice inside my head kept saying, _"Graham's Right" _

I believe that Easton is haunted. As long as you're in Easton nothing happy could happen. Life was morbid till you did something crazy. Now is the time for me to take risks. The problem is I don't know what risks I should do.

I suddenly heard a soft tick-tak sound on the door as the door swung open and Paul walked in. Paul's back was hunched over, with a serious look on his face. I noticed that he had a suitcase in his hand and he was walking towards his dresser.

"You're leaving?" I asked rhetorically. Not waiting for an answer I continued, "Your job calling?"

Paul nodded. "My dad needs me for a very important heist. If this one doesn't work. It would be 'Bye, Bye fortune and riches.' Definitely not something I want to happen."

I smirked. "Sure you don't want to miss the funeral."

"I've been to enough funerals to last me a lifetime. I even been to my own."

Laughing, I remarked. "Doubt that."

Paul rolled his eyes and said. "I would really like it if you talked to Josh sometime. I have a feeling that if you do, you would feel better."

"That guy seems to hate me."

"I doubt that. If you stop being so shy, you'll realized that there is another side to that sad dude. You could even be best friends."

Like that was going to happen. "Well good luck. Seen you went you come back."

"I'll be back around spring break. This heist I am doing is pretty major." Paul made eye contact with me and for a second I thought I saw Jen. It was a crazy feeling and a second later the feeling was gone.

So I nodded and Paul left, bag in hand, out the door. And I was left alone again.

Or so I thought. About ten minutes later, Trey, Hunter and Weston went into my room. I have been ignoring them all week, but they didn't seem too sad about it. I wonder what they were here to tell me. Probably that they hated my aloofness.

My three new friends sat down on Paul's bed. We stared at each other for a few moments then laughed.

"I'm sorry I have been ignoring you three lately. I been pretty busy moaning and groaning for awhile, but I have finally come to the fact that I had nothing to do, at all with Graham's suicide."

"Detective Hauer would probably start believing that you pretended your siblings' suicides and killed them yourself." Hunter said, causing Weston to punch his arm.

Glaring at West and Hunter, Trey said "It's not your fault that your family is so messed up. It is not your fault and I hope that you can soon start acting like yourself again."

"The problem is that you don't even know me that well. We just met three weeks ago and know your suddenly acting like were best friends." I remarked.

"We are. It doesn't matter that we met each other recently. The second I spoke to you I knew that you are just like me. We both like and have amazing girls and have no idea what is the right thing to do with our luck." Trey said.

Trey was right. So forgetting that momentary, creepy feeling of Paul being Jen, I decide to agree and be truthful for once. "True. I am so glad I met you."

Trey and I continued for a few more hours talking about our lives, our similarities, our differences and other things best friends talked about. Hunter and West left the room (Hunter sighed "girls", I knew that some real girls don't talk a lot) to let us talk.

The hours went by so fast that I didn't realized that 6pm pasted and that Trey and I were late for the funeral. We cut our conversation about worries about our girlfriends' problems to run to the funeral.

The funeral was set in the chapel. All the seats had blue cushions on them and there was a bright, big chandelier hanging up, on the ceiling. People were just finishing up with getting into the proper seating arrangements by our grades. I sat on the left side by the other boy juniors (most of who I didn't know) and Trey sat with the boy seniors.

The only word I have to describe the funeral is morbid. For the first time this week I actually cried about Graham's death and the secret I knew that Reed was keeping from me about Graham. I know that I can act like a girl sometimes but would you really not cry on a funeral about problems. Most sane people, I believe, should cry at funerals.

After there was a reception outside. Crazy as it seems to be outside for hours, on a cold February day, it was what my father decided. Given that Graham was always happiest in the winter months.

I went straight to where Josh was standing by the reception table. It felt like a good time to do what I promised Paul I would do. "Hey." I said softly.

"Hi."

Overcoming my nerves I quickly said. "Look, I don't really know you, but I've wanted to talk to you about something."

"Well, I'm not really in the mood to talk to someone who is now the boyfriend of the first girl I ever loved."

"I know. The thing is I believe that if we knew each other better, everything would work out better in the end."

"Just leave me alone. I'm tired. Go away. I made a mistake last semester and now I am going to have to live the rest of my life regretting it. Stop gloating and never talk to me again." Then Josh left.

"Guess that didn't work out the way either of us planed." I heard Amberly say behind me.

"What do you mean? You have nothing to do with want I just did." I glared at her.

"I know, but it feels like I should have something to do with your life. Please." She said sarcastically.

"No thanks." I turned around to catch up with Trey and we walked back to Ketlers.

"Guess you are not going to be friends with your girlfriend's ex." Trey remarked.

"Guess not" I smiled. "But at least I got you as a friend and Reed as a girlfriend."

"Where was Reed tonight anyway?" Trey asked.

"Oh she had a New York weekend planed with Noelle."

"Your father allowed that!" Trey exclaimed.

"Yeah, he thought Reed deserved a break."


	13. Chapter 13

A Fish Story

Today must be the perfect Valentine's Day. The sun is shining. The weather's warm and best of all Reed is coming back. I have so many plans of what we should do together. Nevertheless, for the moment, I cannot help but see Gage sitting alone, on a bench. I can tell that he is still very sad about Graham's death. They were best friends after all. They used to do everything together.

I remember the time when Gage came to our school, in New Jersey, about three years ago, on Graham's birthday.

It was a typical Monday, June morning. Graham and I, and the other students in our class, of course, were taking a history final. Summer was looming and all every one of us wanted to do was go out fishing. See when I was in 8th grade the hip trend of my class was to go fishing for fish and other sea creatures. It is New Jersey after all and my town, Livingston, was near a river that was great to fish in. The small river carried many families of big fish, little fish and sharks. We used small fish, called guppies, as bait, that my famous, angler, Uncle Isaac got from the Caribbean during the springtime.

It was a fabulous sport that we all enjoyed.

Another reason for not liking doing the history final was that it was only an eight grade final, after all. It is not like its going on our college transcript. What would you rather do? Fish or do a test?

Anyway, while we were all working, bore out of our minds, someone knock on the teacher's door. Surprise, surprise. It was Gage. He was carrying a big, straw basket. He went straight to Graham, ignoring the teacher's glare. He handed the basket to Graham and while Graham was opening the basket, a group of finally dressed, preppy boys came in singing "Happy Birthday" in unison.

Inside the basket was the biggest fish we had ever seen. Graham was so touch. "You came all the way from Connecticut to do this for me?"

"Who wouldn't? You are the best friend I ever had?" Gage responded.

That was probably the best day of Graham's life. To bad, I ruined it later that night. I have always been able to ruin good days. What I did was stupid. I only did it because I can be stubborn sometimes. Graham asked me to make dinner from the huge, smelly fish that Gage gave him. I said I would not and it lead to another fight between Graham and me.

Back to the present. I feel as if it is my duty to help Gage feel better. It was all I can give Graham now that he is dead. Nevertheless, what could I do to make him feel better? I always though that if you talked to someone, and used the right words, you could make that person feel better or become friends with that person. Last night proved me wrong.

Suddenly, without any warning an idea came to me. It was so simple, yet perfect. I could get everyone who knows Gage, to give him a surprise party. It would probably make him feel better knowing that people care about him even if he can be cocky and arrogant sometimes.

Therefore, I went to Trey's room and told him about my idea. He said he liked it and that we could probably have it ready for the next weekend. After we hold a Ketler house meeting (Gage was somewhere else) and started planning for the party.

Around six, at night, I left the party planners to go see Reed. She told me earlier to meet her at Gwendolyn Hall. Before I went to meet her, I thought I should go to see the ruins of Billings Hall. I do not know why. I just had a feeling that I should go there.

When I got there, I saw some men in working clothes that had a pile of wood beside them and were getting started at making a building.

"What are you guys up to?" I asked.

"Rebuilding some dorm called Billings House. Kind of stupid. A few weeks ago the administration of this school decided they want to burn this house down. Put many rings on my collier too. And then sometime this morning they call saying 'build the place you destroyed again." Said a man with a big mustache, who was covered with dirt.

"Oh." I said melancholy. Reed would be delighted when she hears this news. I guess my body somehow knew that this was happening.

After saying "Later.", I ran to meet Reed. I suddenly felt a burst of newly found energy. I was so exited. I almost missed seeing Reed, but I did sadly. She was not in the exact place where she said we should meet but she was there, all right. She was behind the bushes near Gwendolyn Hall and she was not alone.


	14. Chapter 14

Redemption

Right next to her, lips on her lips, kissing Reed, was Josh.

I never imagined that I, Sawyer Hathaway, would ever have to worry about seeing my girlfriend kissing another guy. I always thought that guys that were friendly to everyone. Guys who were truthful. Would ever have to worry about losing a relationship after getting one. I always thought that finding someone who love me back would be the hardest thing to ever get.

It turns out that the hardest thing that I ever had to do was find the correct reaction to this bad occurrence. The event of Reed, the love of my life, kissing her ex-boyfriend, when she knew that I was coming here.

Reed always seem considerate and flawless. Now I knew that she probably was neither. I thought she shone me her true colors earlier, that day after the library, but I guess I was wrong.

Calmly, I go up to Reed and say, "Well I never expected to see this when I came to see you on Valentine's Day."

As soon as I said that the two of them break apart. At the same time they said. "Look." Then they started laughing.

Look at them acting like fools. I always wanted to act like a fool with Reed, but we never really got to that kind of relationship. I start to turn around. It is not as if I enjoy seeing my girlfriend basically break up with me. Then they say "Stop" at the same time again.

At the same time Reed says, "Graham saw us do this too."

And Josh says, "I actually thought you were the one who saw us. I thought the boy Reed was temporarily dating was the one who found us."

"It wasn't supposed to be temporarily." I said and I left without looking back. That was always the kind of scene where there is no proper way to react. I doubt anyone will ever figure out a good way to react to cheating on the spot. So do not blame what I did. I cannot change it, but I wish I could.

What I did next was stupid. Something I never imagined doing. With my heart racing, I snuck out of the school and ran into the forest by it. I went in without any sense of direction. Without caring at about what was going on around me. I went pretty deep in the woods and I stopped once my heart stopped racing.

I sat on the ground that was full of mud and grass. I did not care at all about how filthy I was going to get. I forgot about anyone but myself. I could only think about my ridiculous problems. I forgot that I should be helping Gage feel better. What happened to him was much worse because he will never be able to have Graham back.

It started drizzling slightly around me. Alone, or so I thought, I started feeling depress. I did not cry, I could not find tears. I just sat there not believing that life could get any worse or better. I was wrong about the worse part.

Without any warning I heard someone say. "You look pretty stuck, Sawyer."

I look up and saw Paul staring down at me. Instead of looking into his dark brown eyes, I looked into sparkling blue eyes. "Paul what happened to your eyes? Are you wearing contacts?"

"No. I decided to put off my contacts." Paul replied.

I tried to get up so I could speak to him standing as well, but I could not. I was stuck to the sticky mud and sultry grass. "Can you help me? I'm sort of stuck here."

"No. Well not until I tell you something."

"What?" I asked.

"Well first, I was wondering do you remember me telling you about me wanting to do a heist." Paul said provably.

"Yeah. What did you get?"

"A very important object. It is pretty important to Easton's recent history." Walking to a nearby tree, that had a bag hanging on a branch, he pulled out a bat from the bag.

"Do you recognize it?" Paul asked blissfully.

"No. Should I?" I asked debatably.

"Oh right! We didn't go to Easton at the time when this, very same bat killed the all to famous Thomas Pearson."

"Oh. Cool. Can you help me now?"

"Not yet. There is so much else we have to talk about." Paul said in a girly voice. "But first I have to take off this preposterous mask." Reaching, gingerly, to the top of his face, Paul removed some faux skin and showed me the face of Amberly…

At that time I was very shocked. Surprisingly that was the lesser horrible surprise.

"Amberly, have you been disguising yourself as a boy, so you would be able to get closer to me?" I said, laughing.

"In a way, yeah." Amberly replied. "I also wanted to watch you. I wanted to see how long it would take for you to realized that were perfect together. Sadly, for you, it took too long and all I want to do to you know is to kill you."

"Just because I did not want to have a romantic relationship with you. That's pretty obscure." What did Amberly think she is?

"You're so rude sometimes. I cannot believe that everyday I used to stand up to you. Protect you from all the bullies. Be your saving grace when everyone else ignored and despise you." Amberly said.

"You must be having an identity crise. I didn't even know you till about two months ago." I exclaimed.

"You're so stupid. After all this time, after all that we lived together, you cannot recognize me after a makeover. I thought we had a connection!"

"We do. We are friends." I said quizzically.

"We are more than friends!" Amberly screamed.

"How many times to I have to tell you?" I ask rhetorically. "I don't want to have a relationship with you!"

"I don't want us to have a relationship anymore! I want us to come together, as brother and sister should, and get ride of all the ruthless and annoying people of this planet we call earth." Amberly exclaimed.

Suddenly, the truth came rushing down. I remembered the night before Graham's death, when I came into his room and saw him looking at his email. As soon as he heard me come in, he deleted the email he was looking at. That email must have been the email when Amberly told him the truth and gave him the very same ultimatum.

I remembered wondering. Where on earth Jen's body was. I remembered hearing Jen's voice sometimes when I was talking to Paul and Amberly. No! Not Paul or Amberly…

"Jen." I said in a hush voice. "Oh Jen."

Jen nodded, still looking like Amberly, and said, "I was tired of our family. Dad businesslike attitude. Mom ignoring us, to busy to talk. Graham thinking we were freaks. So I decided to leave and get a better family. I took over the life of horrible, little Amberly Carmichael. I gave her a free trip to Vegas. So she cold do her life dream. Amberly is never coming back. She is probably starving on the streets at the moment. Thinking 'why oh why did I do that deal?' Last semester I witness a huge, climatic scandal. I was sad that I had nothing to do with it. But I knew my time of power was soon to come. And know I want to offer you a change to repay the debt, you always owed me. No time like the present. Haha."

I shook my head. "Jen. I am sorry that you feel as if your life is useless. I still think that if you forget what happened, everything will be all right again. There is no need to blame people for other people's actions. Ariana chose to kill Thomas, not Reed. I know that your horrified about what happened to your BEST FRIEND, but I believe that you will realize that you should not do the same mistake. Please."

"I guess I knew this was going to happen. I am sorry about what I am going to do. See I really do love you." Jen said morosely.

As I was struggling to stand up, there was no way I was going to die without a fight, Jen raised the bat and struck right on my neck. In a story, my life would be flashing through my life but all I saw was hope for the future. I knew that this scandals was going to end like all other scandals. With the cupid in jail. I just had to play my part and pray that the living will relieved what was going on.

And they did. Right after I died, Graham told me, Dad, Trey, Reed and Josh came running in. they were following me but they got lost. They were not able to get there until two minutes after, but at least they saw Jen still standing there. They knew she was Jen, not Amberly because they heard Jen's speech earlier, from a distance. At least I know that no one will blame Amberly for Jen's mistakes and that they are going to start searching to find the real Amberly. I glad to say that the real Amberly is still alive and has managed well in Las Vegas. When they find Amberly, they will find her rich as a king. See the Amberly I knew was in St. Barths. Amberly was able to convince Jen to let her be the one to spend time in paradise.

As, a ghost, I now see someone new enter Easton, with fire in her heart. She is beautiful, and smart. I hope Pavarti, the new one, realizes that she should change her ways. I hope she does. There should always be hope for the new instigator.

I guess that is how life goes. As one scandal ends, another begins!

AUTHOR's NOTE

i just want to say thank you, everyone, expecially HappyKitty95, for your great reviews of my story!

i really enjoyed writing it and hope everyone enjoyed reading it!

i expecially am happy that i finally found my wrting style while writing this chapter!

i hope you all have a great VALENTINE'S DAY. i have a good feeling that today is going to be great.

i would love to hear what everyone thinks of my ending and my story.

with undying love to Evernight, Private, Sawyer, Josh, Trey, Balthazar, Bianca, Lucas and my great friends like Katie, Emily, Athena, Andrew, Marion, Rebecca, Carly, Megan, Sabrina, Sarah, Danielle and Alsia.

I remain...

Rachel Ann


	15. Author's Note

**Sawyer and Graham are dead.**

**Amberly is in Vegas**

**Reed and Josh are together.**


End file.
